I was contacted online by a client who was looking for an artist to create a one-of-a-kind collage style painting – one that would feature images of him and his wife and special moments in their life – as a surprise 10th wedding anniversary gift! After emailing back and forth a little and seeing examples, he confirmed that my Mixed Media series was a good fit for what he was after, so he sent me the pictures he wanted me to use & I started planning/prepping!
During the order process we were in contact often, and he let me know of any special requests right off the bat (like the larger main photo in the centre, for example), and then left me to my ‘artistic liberties’ for the majority of the piece. As the planned person I am lol, in the beginning I created a ‘mock up’ on my computer the best I could, to show the arrangement of the photos I had in mind. This helps the client visualize the approximate end result, plus… if my jewellery training had taught me anything, it’s the better the planning the smoother things come together in the end for things like this! I’m super glad we did the mock up & thrilled that the final product came to life as expected, AND that when I met my client in person to give him the finished piece he loved the final product!
This custom painting features an abstract style mixed with image transfer techniques, in acrylic paint on birch panel. Below are some closer up shots of some of my favourite spots on the piece so you can take a better peek:
And a side view to show a little bit of the texture:
One of my favourite features in the piece is that I got to incorporate images of their actual passport stamps from their trips! Plus I got to use my favourite colour – blue – as the accent colour, because it is also his wife’s favourite colour. Bonus!
I’ve always enjoyed working on Custom Art for people. There’s just something about helping others bring their vision to life while interpreting it through your own style/abilities. This piece was challenging because of the quantity of photos involved, as my smaller Mixed Media works usually include just one. But my client was very organized in sending images to me, and me in my planning, that overall it was a really fun project and I quite enjoyed working on it! I get to reveal “Have Love, Will Travel” now, as their anniversary was last weekend – Happy 10th you two!!
What do you think of this mixed media / collage style?
PS – Oh! And what’s the story with the name of the painting you ask? That’s easy – I love this song, and the title alone seemed perfect for this particular piece, I couldn’t resist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EELaBIo_1ps
